Sunday, September 28, 2014

Back to Labor and Delivery... and Home Again...

I'm spending enough time in L&D that I can
just recycle the pictures from last time...
Yesterday I spent a fair amount of time playing Farm Hero and Candy Crush on Facebook.  I don't usually play computer games... well... at all, but I was attempting to not move or clean or do any of the things that my brain was telling me really, really needed to be done and so I found myself lining up little vegetables and pieces of candy on the computer screen and trying my best not to move.

Before that I spent the morning back in Labor and Delivery, trying not to be annoyed with how my doctor's instructions of "not having contractions at all" fail to line up with the hospital policy of "well yes, you're dilating and effacing and having contractions but you aren't quite in active labor yet, because you aren't dilated enough, so you need to go home until you're dilating a centimeter every hour."

This is frustrating because it simply won't happen.  After three c-sections my body doesn't seem to work that way anymore and even if they hooked me up to a pitocin drip for twenty four hours while having contractions every couple of minutes that are very, very real, I still wouldn't be making that sort of progress.  Hence the need for a c-section.

It all started on Friday.  Friday afternoon, after Mae and I got home from a super fun time at the autism lab at the university, in which she picked out her own pink shimmering outfit to wear over a Doc McStuffins sleeper (she was having a sensory sort of morning) and giggled and spoke and charmed everyone she met, we went to the store to pick up a few things before Paul went to work.

And the contractions suddenly decided to not only come every two minutes, lasting around a minute, but they were in the "on a scale of one to ten... definitely a nine... since I save tens for what happened when I was having Sadie and they accidentally turned the pitocin all the way on instead of off for the hour while we waited for an anesthesiologist... after the c-section had been ordered..."  And they started when I was sitting down rather than coming on because I'd walked ten steps, like they usually do, which made me think we might be welcoming the baby a little bit sooner than we'd planned.

(at least this time there was no IV)
We went home and I laid down and the contractions started to space themselves out a bit more.  I told Paul to go to work because they were more than ten minutes apart.  But they lasted all night and were strong enough to wake me up all night long, and since I'm "not supposed to go into labor" I finally called the doctor's office and Saturday morning was sent back into Labor and Delivery.

In labor and delivery we learned fun things like I had progressed since the Wednesday appointment and that I was now 50% effaced.  But it wasn't enough to stay, so after turning down a shot of morphine, because I can't really imagine dealing with Mae and Patch under the influence of morphine and because I knew that Paul needed to get some time to sleep before going back to work, I went home, with instructions to try to lay down and not move "as much as possible" because everyone seemed to be able to tell that "as much as possible" wouldn't be all that much.

And it's true. If I lay perfectly still and no one touches me, I don't have regular contractions.  If a toddler careens across the room and bumps into my stomach while I lay on the couch... contraction.  If the baby on the inside moves... contraction.  If Sadie comes over and hugs me... contraction.  If I run down stairs to put laundry in the washer... contraction, contraction, contraction.

As you've probably guessed, I won't be making it to Mass or posting a WIWS picture today.

On the upside, we are at 37 weeks (and one day) now.  If we do have to go in it's not the end of the world.  On the other hand it's taking all of my self control not to get up and do the things that need to be done.  So that's the latest.  Waiting and wondering if baby boy is going to hold out for October, or pick a really great feast day (like maybe Michaelmas? Or beyond that the first week of October, which hold so many of my favorite saint days!).  I should really put up one of those little polls for people to vote... if nothing else to alay the boredom of not being able to do much at all.

7 comments:

  1. Wow - that sounds crazy! What are they waiting for before they do the c-section?

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  2. Yikes! Hang in there. I can't imagine how stressful this is. L & D is SO expensive - we have a private PPO and it was over $1,000 just to go to L&D and have an NST! I don't know what insurance plan you have, but unless Paul has fantastic insurance through his employer, these trips have to be killing you financially :(. I'll pray your baby holds out at least another week!

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  3. I can second what Anonymous said about the cost of L&D. A 90 minute trip to L&D triage at 37weeks 6 days cost us $2,200. It was insane. All they did was monitor the baby's movements, my blood pressure and some blood work for an incredible price tag.

    I hope your little guy is here soon. Hang in there! I know how difficult it is to just stay still trying to rest when there's so much to do and so much going on around you. Praying for you!

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  4. The upcoming week is one of my favorite "saints" week of all the year. Of course, Monday (you mentioned it as Michaelmas) is the Archangels, Tuesday is St. Jerome, Wed. is St. Therese, the Little Flower, Thursday, the Guardian Angels, and Friday, Oct. 3, beginning at sunset, is the Transitus (passing) of St. Francis of Assisi, whose feast day is Saturday. Then next Tuesday is Our Lady of the Rosary. It's a pretty cool week.
    Even though it would be wonderful if the baby were to be born during the next week, I'll be praying he (and you) can hold out another week or so.
    God bless. ~ Bonnie

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  5. Uggh I hate the idea that we have to be making such regular 'progress' to be in labor. I get told I'm not even labor and each time the baby is in my arms an hour later. I make all my 'progress' in that hour! Praying for you.

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  6. October 1 is St. Thérèse in the new calendar, October 2 is Guardian Angels, and October 3 is St. Thérèse in the old calendar. Am I allowed to personally root for October 1 or 2? And even though the baby is a boy, I have a seminarian friend who has St. Thérèse as a patron saint.

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  7. My prayers for you to stop having contractions until time for the c-section!

    Here's an idea: Pick your favorite October Saint and start a novena that the baby stay put till that feast day.

    And could you pray that I feel better? This pregnancy has me dragging and we are not due till January!

    God bless.

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